By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter
@Siwri88
Sunday, 30 March 2014 marks the start of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car
Championship. One of motorsport’s most popular series’, certainly in the UK
anyway is set for one of its most exciting seasons in its established history.
The BTCC has been around since 1958 and has undergone radical reforms from
class systems and night racing, to the super touring era of the 1990s. However
none of these periods have what the fans can look forward to this season, as no
fewer than seven…YES SEVEN champions line-up on the grid for the season opener
at Brands Hatch in Kent.
Reigning
champion Andrew Jordan returns to defend the crown he so brilliantly won last
season for the Pirtek Racing Honda squad. To do that though, he must overcome
challenges from the works Hondas of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, the
flamboyant Jason Plato from MG, BMW’s Colin Turkington and the returning Alain
Menu and Fabrizio Giovanardi. All of the above have won the BTCC title,
stretching back as far as 1997.
Crème of the crop
It was Brands
Hatch that brought down the curtain on the 2013 title battle on a wet and windy
October afternoon and Jordan held his nerve and a late crash in one of the
races to claim his maiden title.
Having become
an elite Red Bull athlete over the winter, Jordan enters this season in
confident mood. He was the fastest driver at the BTCC media day recently at
Donington Park and knows the package of his car inside out. He starts the
season as the slender favourite but it is very hard to do back-to-back titles.
Only Neal and Giovanardi have done that in the last 30 years.
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| Andrew Jordan is defending champion and the man to beat in 2014 |
Whilst Jordan (car pictured above) knows everything there is to know about his car, the works Dynamics Honda boys
of Neal and Shedden have to learn a new car from scratch. The new Honda Civic
tourer looks an absolute beauty but is it quick enough for them to launch a
challenge? Evidence would suggest they will be right up there as expected,
despite some early teething problems in testing. The relationship between the
teammates is second to none, despite the odd incident on-track. I won’t forget
the collision instigated by Neal on the final corner of a race at Oulton Park
in 2011 (video below).
Meanwhile at
MG, the Triple Eight racing crew will be aiming to spearhead Plato to a third
title. He last took the top honours for Chevrolet in 2010 and is the most
successful BTCC driver in history for race victories. Never hiding behind
anything and always with plenty to say, the Fifth Gear presenter and BRDC board
member loves his racing and apart from two years in the mid-2000s, has been a
permanent fixture on the grid since 1997. It is the third season of the
Plato/MG relationship and this campaign – they want to win and anything else
will be considered as a failure.
By contrast,
Turkington’s performances were outstanding last season after three years away
from the paddock. He won the title for Team WSR in 2009 driving a BMW, so like
Jordan – he knew the team, if not the car last season. He strung together some
great weekends though and was almost unbeatable at Croft and Knockhill in 2013.
His canny driving style means he will always be there to pick up the pieces and
collect the points, even if he isn’t the fastest over a race weekend.
For Menu and
Giovanardi, it is a return to familiar stomping grounds. Giovanardi is a
touring car legend, having won titles in his homeland of Italy, alongside
Spanish, European and British titles. He last graced the BTCC at the opening
round in 2010 with two wins from three at Thruxton before a lack of sponsorship
saw him sadly disappear. There was never a more exciting driver in his first
spell on these shores and he is the big gamble by Dave Bartram and his ailing
Motorbase Ford Focus squad, who had a winless and fairly lamentable 2013. Menu
will be driving a Volkswagen this season. His last full campaign was the final
year Super Touring was around, when he clinched the 2000 title in the
unstoppable Ford Mondeo. The Swiss was one of the most consistent drivers in
his first touring car career. Only once (1999) did he finish outside the top
three of the standings at the end of a season between 1994-2000. For these two,
race wins will be ideal but anything else has to be considered as a bonus.
Others to watch
It isn’t just
the seven champions to lookout for though. Still buzzing from his maiden win at
Rockingham in September, Rob Austin will be a threat in his Audi car, now with
new sponsorship. Young gun Adam Morgan has taken Austin’s former sponsorship,
WIX Racing and now has a Mercedes-Benz to play with. Morgan was one of the
biggest surprises last season, cutting out his wild errors of his debut 2012
year with a more mature approach in 2013 that earned many plaudits.
A late deal
has got multiple race winner Mat Jackson back onto the grid with Motorbase. He
had a very difficult 2013 with some fairly anonymous weekends. However he has
figured in championship fights in the past and is an excellent benchmark for the
returning Giovanardi. Turkington will be supported by another experienced
campaigner in Rob Collard. Always one for a good scrap, Rob never gives up and
will be hoping for more luck to come his way this time around.
Another
youngster to watch out for is Sam Tordoff, who will once again be backing Plato
up at MG. Tordoff won his first touring car race at Snetterton last summer and
handled the occasion of being paired with Plato very well. His progress will be
one of the season’s interesting side stories. Then there is Dubliner Aron Smith
with Menu at Volkswagen, looking for a new breath of fresh air after being deemed
surplus to requirements at Motorbase, whilst rookies Marc Hynes and Tom Ingram
are bound to show flashes of potential as will another former race winner in
Dave Newsham, now in an AMD Ford Focus.
Commitments
With new
deals with Dunlop and ITV, plus a one-class formula with all 31 cars using the
NGTC car requirement, the BTCC is firmly in a good place.
There are 10
race meetings across the country from Silverstone in Northamptonshire and
Snetterton in Norfolk to Oulton Park in Cheshire and Thruxton in Hampshire –
the fastest circuit in Great Britain.
It all starts
on Sunday with three events and with 13 race winners on the grid, there is
bound to be plenty of commitment down the field. BTCC 2014 could be a special
season. It certainly has all the ingredients to deliver.
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